Taika Waititi is officially headed to a galaxy far, far away. The filmmaker behind Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit will direct and co-write a new Star Wars movie for theatrical release.

Oscar nominated 1917 writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns will pen the script with Waititi. In January, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Lucasfilm was courting Waititi for a Star Wars film.

No release date has been set for the project, which was announced on StarWars.com to coincide with May the Fourth, the unofficial holiday celebrating all things Star Wars. Waititi, who won a screenwriting Oscar for Jojo Rabbit, has a full schedule. He has already shot the upcoming Searchlight Pictures soccer film Next Goal Wins, and has Ragnarok followup Thor: Love and Thunder due out Feb. 11, 2022 from Marvel Studios. He cut his teeth in the Star Wars world by directing the season one finale of Disney+'s The Mandalorian and voicing the droid IG-11.

I think he'll be a good fit. He's capable of handling "serious" material, and directed at least one episode of The Mandalorian.

He can't be any worse than Rian Johnson, at the very least.

Terran

05-04-2020 10:57 AM

I'm not hopeful. I didn't really like the direction he took in Ragnarok, turning Thor into a bumbling, ridiculous fool. Maybe he'll make something better than the last SW set, but that's not quite a high bar either.

We shall see.

Chimpbot

05-04-2020 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terran
(Post 2558871)

I'm not hopeful. I didn't really like the direction he took in Ragnarok, turning Thor into a bumbling, ridiculous fool. Maybe he'll make something better than the last SW set, but that's not quite a high bar either.

We shall see.

Jojo Rabbit is actually a solid movie, that balances humor with a pretty dark, bleak plot. He also has some experience with Star Wars, so he's at least familiar. He also seems to run more with the Favreau/Filloni crowd, who should be the guys running Lucasfilm.

Booda

05-04-2020 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chimpbot
(Post 2558872)

Jojo Rabbit is actually a solid movie, that balances humor with a pretty dark, bleak plot. He also has some experience with Star Wars, so he's at least familiar. He also seems to run more with the Favreau/Filloni crowd, who should be the guys running Lucasfilm.

J.J. Abrams made a pretty damn good Star Trek flick back in 09.

So what the hell happened with those shitshow Star Wars films?

Chimpbot

05-04-2020 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Booda
(Post 2558885)

J.J. Abrams made a pretty damn good Star Trek flick back in 09.

So what the hell happened with those shitshow Star Wars films?

Given Taika's outloot on what directing a Star Wars movie can do for one's career, I'm leaning more toward cautious optimism. He also demonstrated quite a bit of self-awareness just three years ago, and talked about how he didn't think he'd necessarily be a good stylistic fit for a Star Wars movie at the time. Obviously, something changed his mind over the past few months.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Dave Filloni and John Favreau somehow involved with his movie. If they are, I think things'll be just fine.

I didn't mind Thor: Ragnarok too much but they did turn Thor into a bit of the fool, at least till the end when he turned into a bigger badass - though he was overshadowed at every step by the Valkyrie.

If anything he was portrayed with way less dignity in Avengers: End Game.

I may watch JoJo Rabbit eventually but my general take on Star Wars now is "How far into the ground will they continue to drive it?" I think this guy may at least come up with something interesting.

Terran

05-04-2020 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vallor
(Post 2558912)

If anything he was portrayed with way less dignity in Avengers: End Game.

Just watched that again tonight (the last of my family's travels through the MCU chronologically). Man, is that true. A fat, weepy, bumbling slob, but he does pull it together in the end. Mostly.

Syloney

05-04-2020 09:37 PM

Effing freaking no!!!!

This guy has a signature style of 'COMEDY ALWAYS ON'. Neil Druckmann is brazen to put on his Twitter profile "abuser of characters', Waititi on the other hand after going on a tirade with a fan on Twitter, I can't remember which mythos, replied along the lines on how he would wreak a character if he so pleased. After his bastardization of Thor, I believe him.

Seriously, how could any Thor fan watch Thor 3 and feel that was a job well done. Right from the get go, the comedy reel was reeling, c'mon!!!!

I am not on-board with him taking any known property seriously. Heck, look at the last episode of Mandalorian season 1.

karaliusbronius

05-05-2020 12:56 AM

Anyone but Rian Johnson, fk that guy. Dude hasn't done a single good movie. I thought a teenager directed Knive's Out.

Phoenix1985

05-05-2020 03:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chimpbot
(Post 2558869)

I think he'll be a good fit. He's capable of handling "serious" material, and directed at least one episode of The Mandalorian.

I somehow mixed him up with Jon Favreau in my head for this very reason, and thought "Oh no, Mandalorian isn't going to get the love it deserves anymore."

So, if it had been him, it would've been good, but also bad.

Ghostblaze

05-05-2020 10:55 AM

Whoever worked on and created the mandalorian needs to make these Star Wars movies. The first season was more entertaining than all of those new movies combined. Except rogue one. That was the best “new” Star Wars movie.

ElektroDragon

05-05-2020 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terran
(Post 2558871)

I'm not hopeful. I didn't really like the direction he took in Ragnarok, turning Thor into a bumbling, ridiculous fool. Maybe he'll make something better than the last SW set, but that's not quite a high bar either.

We shall see.

Agreed, and I think it's gonna suck.

MadMurdock_0311

05-05-2020 08:50 PM

I like Taika's work and style. That said. Fuck Star Wars... What a shit-show that universe has become. The Mandalorian was pretty good, haven't gotten into the Clone Wars animated but I hear it's good. The movies, though, are just garbage.

I guess if this shows anything, it's that Disney might finally be willing to take risks with the SW franchise rather than playing it safe with the boring-ass, stupid-as-shit stories that the last three movies were.

Chimpbot

05-06-2020 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghostblaze
(Post 2558970)

Whoever worked on and created the mandalorian needs to make these Star Wars movies. The first season was more entertaining than all of those new movies combined. Except rogue one. That was the best “new” Star Wars movie.

That would be John Favreau, Dave Filloni...and Taika Waititi (to a lesser exent; he voiced a character and directed an episode). :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMurdock_0311
(Post 2559043)

I like Taika's work and style. That said. Fuck Star Wars... What a shit-show that universe has become. The Mandalorian was pretty good, haven't gotten into the Clone Wars animated but I hear it's good. The movies, though, are just garbage.

I guess if this shows anything, it's that Disney might finally be willing to take risks with the SW franchise rather than playing it safe with the boring-ass, stupid-as-shit stories that the last three movies were.

Clone Wars and Rebels are both great shows; Dave Filloni is the mastermind behind both, and he did a great job. With that being said...stick with it through the first couple of seasons. It's a little more kid-friendly at the beginning, but shit starts to get real once you get past the earlier stuff. I haven't seen the last season of Clone Wars yet, but the tail end of it runs concurrently with RotS, and looks to be some of the best Star Wars material we've seen.

Phoenix1985

05-06-2020 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghostblaze
(Post 2558970)

Whoever worked on and created the mandalorian needs to make these Star Wars movies. The first season was more entertaining than all of those new movies combined. Except rogue one. That was the best “new” Star Wars movie.

I'm not 100 percent sure about that. Those guys are doing good stuff with Mandalorian as it is, and pushing them from making their simpler but more effective tv series to trying to steer Star Wars from the main franchise seat might not work out. We'll see how things go with the new lead.

Terran

05-06-2020 06:48 PM

Wouldn't it be nice to see a trilogy of Star Wars material solid the whole way through?

I-III - a mess.
IV-VI - One solid film in there, one half-decent one.
VII-IX - a mess.

We finished watching the MCU chronologically and now we're doing the same with Star Wars. Ep. 1 has some amazingly chintzy looking set pieces (really shocked at how artificial, cheap, sterile they look) and of course, it has Jar Jar, perhaps the worst character in a major film series I have EVER encountered.

Would love for a SW trilogy comparable to Jackson's LotR trilogy, which was epic and amazing.

Evil Avatar

05-06-2020 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terran
(Post 2559088)

Wouldn't it be nice to see a trilogy of Star Wars material solid the whole way through?

I-III - a mess.
IV-VI - One solid film in there, one half-decent one.
VII-IX - a mess.

We finished watching the MCU chronologically and now we're doing the same with Star Wars. Ep. 1 has some amazingly chintzy looking set pieces (really shocked at how artificial, cheap, sterile they look) and of course, it has Jar Jar, perhaps the worst character in a major film series I have EVER encountered.

Would love for a SW trilogy comparable to Jackson's LotR trilogy, which was epic and amazing.

I like the Hobbit Trilogy too, which I find endlessly more watchable than LotR even though I know some people didn't like it.